Over at Wrigley, the Cubs aren’t saying much. Team spokesman Peter Chase said in an e-mail that nobody connected with the team had heard of the wall or wanted to talk about it.
A longtime Cubs fan himself, Mascari hopes the team likes the idea, if for no other reason it might prompt fans to head to his wall and not Wrigley with dead fans’ ashes.
But since there won’t be a Cubs logo on the wall and the company that makes the urns is already licensed to do so by Major League Baseball, he doesn’t think the Cubs can stop the wall if they wanted to.
One man who is talking about it is Philip Roux, the superintendent at the cemetery.
“I think this is great, the best publicity a cemetery could have,” said Philip Roux, Bohemian’s superintendent.
For one thing, he said it would remind people that the cemetery perhaps best known for being the final resting place for Anton Cermak, the Chicago mayor who was assassinated by a man aiming for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is still open.
“We have space available,” Roux said.
The big test will, of course, be convincing Cubs fans their remains belong in the friendly confines of Bohemian National Cemetery.
Out at Wrigley, where the Cubs were playing this week, fans’ opinions varied. Some said they hated the idea. Others said they liked it but wouldn’t want their remains to be alone and they just couldn’t imagine their family members joining them.
Steve Kopetsky, a 53-year-old fan who lives in Corte Madera, Calif., said he didn’t have a problem with spending the money to reserve a spot on the wall as much as he did if word got out that he’d done so.
“My wife would kill me,” he said.
But Don Rood, a 31-year-old Chicagoan who wore his “Die-Hard Cub Fan” shirt to the game, said it makes perfect sense.
“What else are you going to do, lay in a box next to loved ones?” he asked. “It would symbolize what your passion is, what you enjoyed about your life.”
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
DeMarco: Plug in a well-heeled ownership group and negotiate one of those mega-bucks TV deals that are going around, and the Dodgers could become the west coast version of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
Slideshow |
The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
HardballTalk headlines |
Interactive |
Slideshow |
Unbreakable records in baseball A look at the most unbreakable records in baseball including Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters. |
Slideshow |
The top tools of baseball You hear a lot about the tools of baseball, but who are the best hitters, fielders and pitchers? We break it down. more photos |